During lunch break, Amasawa Yuto came to the school infirmary alone.
Hoshinomiya Chie was humming to herself as she arranged thermometers on the desk. When she saw him, she asked, "Are you feeling unwell? Oh, wait, are you Amasawa from Class A?"
"I'm honored that a homeroom teacher from another class knows who I am."
"After all, you were the top scorer on the entrance exam. You were practically flawless—even getting a perfect score in Japanese! Of course the teachers would pay extra attention to you."
"I've been wondering about that myself. They didn't even deduct points from my essay, so even though I got a perfect score, it felt strangely like the whole thing had been rigged."
"You're surprisingly modest, Amasawa. Maybe you're just that good. Anyway, is there something bothering you that brought you to the infirmary? You can talk to me about anything, whether it's physical or emotional~"
"Actually, I have some questions about the school's rules. I was hoping you could help answer them, Hoshinomiya-sensei."
Hoshinomiya tilted her head in confusion. She was probably wondering why Amasawa Yuto hadn't gone to ask his own homeroom teacher, Teacher Mashima.
"Some questions can only be discussed with teachers from other classes."
Hoshinomiya had no idea what sort of question Amasawa Yuto could only discuss with another class's teacher, but answering students' questions was part of a teacher's duty, so she nodded. "All right, Amasawa. What would you like to ask?"
She was curious to see just how well the strongest student in this year's Class A understood the school's rules.
It would also give her a chance to sound out how difficult it might be for her own Honami to move up a class.
"I remember Teacher Mashima saying that as long as you have points, you can buy anything, right?"
"That's right. You can use points to buy anything the school can provide, as long as it's within the law. Of course, the price might be astronomical."
"What if I wanted to buy a teacher's services? For example, how many points would it cost to hire you once?"
"Huh?" Hoshinomiya looked bewildered. "What do you mean, hire a teacher?"
"For example, cleaning or organizing a class activity. There are forty students in my class, but sometimes we're still short-handed. Or maybe I just want to ask a teacher for help. How many points would it cost to hire a teacher for something like that?"
"If they were students from my own class, I'd be happy to help them..." Hoshinomiya began, then suddenly understood. So that was why he'd come to ask a teacher from another class. But what was the point of a question like that? She had never heard it asked before.
"I'll call and ask." Over the years, students had asked all sorts of strange questions. In the previous year, one student had even asked how many points it would take for her to spend the night with him.
The school's policy was to answer as thoroughly as possible, which meant providing a definite point value. Whenever a question came up that no one could answer, they would discuss it urgently and add a rule. It was one way they kept refining the school's regulations.
Perhaps this was only a question Hoshinomiya hadn't heard before. There might already be an explicit rule in the school's regulations database.
Before long, Hoshinomiya put down the phone. "Hiring teachers or other staff costs 100,000 points per hour. But you have to sign a written contract, specify exactly what you're hiring them to do in ten-minute increments, and get the agreement approved by the Academic Affairs Office."
The rules left little room for loopholes. Perhaps someone had tried a similar dirty trick before.
The way this school was set up made information its most valuable commodity.
Accurate, timely information could help you prepare for trouble and win from miles away. False information, on the other hand, could send you plummeting into an abyss with no way back.
That meant there was a very simple method: hire a teacher, then use the employment contract to get them to withhold information from students in another class—or even spread false information. It would be easy to bring the other class down.
Even if it didn't go that far, at a school where failing meant expulsion, a teacher could deliberately give the wrong exam topics. A homeroom teacher could tell their students what would be on the exams for the subjects they taught, but could they really confirm that the other subject teachers had given the right topics?
This was no use to Teacher Mashima Tomoya, since he was already the homeroom teacher of Class A. But there was no guarantee that teachers further down the ladder wouldn't do something like this to help their class move up.
Given how strict the requirements were for hiring teachers, it seemed there was no need to worry about teachers becoming accomplices to students.
If a teacher took matters into their own hands, doing so inside a school covered in surveillance cameras would be tantamount to burying their career.
"I have one more question. How many points would it cost to buy all the rules of this school right now?"
At this, a knowing smile appeared on Hoshinomiya's face. "Two million. That's how many points it would cost to buy all the rules the school is currently willing to disclose to you."
It seemed like the school had set up this test in advance. The amount was exactly half of a class's total income for the first month.
It would hurt, but once they knew the rules, they could make the money back in two and a half months if they saved two hundred Class Points.
"Could you make it cheaper? After all, you'd be selling to a student from another class."
"I can't do that, Amasawa. You know you're from another class, and the fact I'm not charging you extra is already very generous of me~" Hoshinomiya put on a pitiful smile that somehow reminded him of Kushida Kikyo.
"What if I agreed to some additional conditions?"
"Hm? What do you mean by additional conditions?"
"Chabashira-sensei from Class D would sell them for 1.6 million, on the condition that I share the rules with Class D."
The moment Chabashira-sensei's name came up, Hoshinomiya's entire demeanor changed. It was as if the sky had been clear one second, only for a torrential downpour to fall without warning.
"Sae, she said that?" Her voice dropped, rough as black sandpaper, with something harsh beneath it. "All right, then. I'll sell them to you for 1.5 million, on the condition that you share them with Class B and refuse Sae."
"Deal. I didn't realize you had such a strong grudge against Chabashira-sensei."
"That's none of your business."
"No, it is. I have a second deal to propose, and I think you'll be very interested in it, Hoshinomiya-sensei."
"What else do you have to say?"
Hoshinomiya could no longer treat him like an ordinary student. Amasawa Yuto's cold voice sounded almost like a demon whispering.
Was that the kind of stormy presence Miyabi Nagumo had brought to the teachers a year ago, and Horikita Manabu two years ago?
"Since you hate Chabashira-sensei so much, how much would you pay me to help you deal with Class D?"
"Deal with Class D? Hmph. You don't even know the rules yet."
"No, I already know. It's about deductions, isn't it? I'm buying them from you just to get a guarantee."
"You... honestly... That would also violate the school rules. I can only pay you with my personal points, you know?"
"How much are you willing to offer, then? Your price will affect my decision."
Hoshinomiya pondered for a moment. "150,000. I want to see results in a month. How badly can you suppress Class D?"
"200,000. I'll make Class D hit rock bottom."
Hoshinomiya was startled. That figure was exactly her bottom line in the negotiation, and he'd seen through it at once.
Her throat felt dry. "Rock bottom, huh? You sound very confident."
"The school can only deduct so many points. I mean that limit. I'm confident I can do it. What do you say?"
He hadn't even given Amasawa the information yet, and he already knew this much?
"...Deal. Do you want me to include it in the 1.5 million?"
"No. I'll get the 1.5 million together myself."
Before you continue